Bank of Queensland faces reckoning in results

There is plenty on this week to keep investors engaged, with a number of companies releasing results or holding meetings with shareholders.

The main event is likely to be
Bank of Queensland
’s full-year result on Thursday for the period ending August 31. The 2011 financial year has been tough for the bank and consensus estimates forecast a 12.5 per cent drop in its normalised cash net profit to $172.4 million.

A slowdown in the Queensland credit cycle, worries about the regional lender’s credit quality and turmoil stemming from Europe are all weighing on the stock, which has underperformed its peers this past year with about a 30 per cent loss compared with a 10 per cent fall in the S&P/ASX 200 Banks Index.

However, the stock is starting to look like good value as it is trading on a one-year forward price-earnings of 7.3 times – a 16 per cent discount to other banks – and has a forecast 2011-12 yield of 8.3 per cent.

A turn in market sentiment on a resolution to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis could see the stock outrun the major banks, says Citigroup.

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A number of miners will also be announcing their quarterly earnings on Thursday.

Mining giant
Rio Tinto
will hand in its third-quarter results and investors will get a chance to see if financial volatility and fears of a sharp economic downturn made any impact on the demand for commodities, particularly bulks.

Bulk commodity prices have proven to be relatively resilient during the past several months even as the S&P/ASX 200 Resources Index has fallen by about 25 per cent since early April.

Mineral Sands producer
Iluka Resources
is scheduled to release its quarterly update on Thursday and management will be able to address the recent drop in its share price despite the stock being one of the best performing resources stock in the past 12 months thanks to strong global fundamentals for its minerals, particularly zircon and titanium dioxide.

The stock is trading on an attractive price-earnings of about six times for 2011-12 and has one of the highest forecast yields in the mining sector of about 8 per cent.

Other miners that will announce their three-month performance on Thursday include uranium miner
Energy Resources of Australia
and copper and gold miner
PanAust
.

On the shareholders’ meeting front, retailers
JB Hi-Fi
and
The Reject Shop
will host their annual general meetings on Wednesday.

Weak consumer confidence and price deflation from the high Australian dollar have cast a shadow on the sector, although JB Hi-Fi appears to have weathered the downturn better than most.

Discount variety store The Reject Shop has not been as lucky. The downturn in consumer spending and the cyclone and floods in Queensland earlier this year have affected TRS’s performance, and management only managed to fully restart its Ipswich Distribution Centre two weeks ago.

Exploration and development company
Platinum Australia
will have their general meeting today in Western Australia, while four-wheel-drive accessory manufacturer,
ARB Corporation
, will hold its yearly get-together with shareholders on Thursday morning in Melbourne.

On Friday, precious-metal miner
Conquest Mining
will hold its annual general meeting in Sydney.